Summer 2012http://www.barnard.edu/taxonomy/term/661/all
enDefining Fatherhood http://www.barnard.edu/news/defining-fatherhood
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p> </p>
<div style="text-align: center; "><strong>THE SEARCH FOR AN ABSOlUTE OFTEN lEADS TO AMBIGUITY</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>DNA allows scientists to determine paternity with over 99-percent certainty using a swab of the cheek or a drop of blood, but the scientific and legal developments over the course of the 20th century reveal how the definition of paternity has changed within a greater social context. “The history of paternity can be told not just as the birth of a solution to a problem, but also as the birth of a problem in itself,” said Nara Milanich, associate professor of history at Barnard, during a recent Lunchtime Lecture, “A Global History of the Paternity Test,” sponsored by the Barnard Center for Research on Women. “No doubt, paternity uncertainty is a recurring trope in Western thought, law, and culture. That doesn’t mean there weren’t also clear, authoritative, and enduring social and legal strategies and methods—protocols if you will—for defining and fixing paternity in the past.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Ancient Roman law declared pater semper incertus est, “the father is always uncertain,” but as monogamous marriage became the status quo, laws changed to reflect that “the father is he who marriage indicates.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>In the late 19th century, scientists began to examine various means of determining kinship—looking at physical resemblances and biometric systems of identification such as fingerprinting and typing blood groups. Paternity research often ran parallel to or intersected with eugenic science, which is concerned with heredity based on race. Scientists, jurists, <img alt="" src="http://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/images/inline/fatherhood_0.jpg" style="float: right; width: 150px; height: 537px; " title="" />and the press closely followed all developments.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>And, as Milanich continues to compile research on scientific and legal history as they relate to paternity, new questions will emerge. How do the scientific developments impact laws? How does genetic fatherhood relate to social definitions of paternity? How are gender roles and identity transformed by the ability to determine paternity definitively by DNA?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“One obvious question my research needs to address is whose interests are served by this new technology and the particular constructions of paternity that it allows?” she said. For example, “We can tie the scientific notions of paternity to the expansion of child rights in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere in the first half of the 20th century.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“The history of the paternity test obviously has implications for the history of gender, of sexuality, and of family,” she continued. “The history of paternity testing is also inextricably tied to ideas about and practices surrounding race.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>A third hypothesis concerns the biologicalization or medicalization of kinship, which is a process that’s alluded to in some recent anthropological scholarship. She asked, “To what extent are older social and legal definitions of paternity eclipsed by new scientific ones? My preliminary impression is less of wholesale replacement... than of an uneasy coexistence of competing definitions of paternity for most of the century and arguably today.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div>“In the 20th century, if science and culture presented paternity as a black box and then proceeded to pry it open, that box proved most definitely to be a Pandora’s box. Any narrative that we can construct about the triumph of scientific truth and justice has to contend with the exploration of legal, social, and ethical ambiguities to which truth has given rise,” concluded Milanich.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><em>—by Lois Elfman <br />
—Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer</em></div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Defining Fatherhood - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/news/defining-fatherhood"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:22:24 +0000rdouglas21711 at http://www.barnard.eduSALON Complete Online Listings Summer 2012http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-complete-online-listings-summer-2012
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-32" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">writing</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-11" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">literature</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-12" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poetry</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>FICTION</p>
<p><strong>The Orphanmaster</strong></p>
<p>by Jean Zimmerman ’79</p>
<p>Viking, 2012, $27.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p>POETRY</p>
<p><strong>The Two Yvonnes: Poems</strong></p>
<p>by Jessica Greenbaum ’79</p>
<p>Princeton University Press, 2012, $12.95/$29.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Exit, Civilian</strong></p>
<p>by Idra Novey (Rosenberg) ’00</p>
<p>University of Georgia Press, 2012, $16.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p>YOUNG READERS</p>
<p><strong>Filipino Celebrations: A Treasury of Feasts and Festivals</strong></p>
<p>by Liana Romulo ’90, illustrations by Corazon Dandan-Albano</p>
<p>Tuttle Publishing, 2012, $16.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p>NONFICTION</p>
<p><strong>Blackness in Opera</strong></p>
<p>edited by Naomi André ’89, Karen M. Bryan, and Eric Saylor</p>
<p>University of Illinois Press, 2012, $35</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Rise of the Smartpower Class: Navigating the New Digital, Leaderful Era</strong></p>
<p>by Lauren deLisa Coleman ’86</p>
<p>SmashWords, 2012, $.99</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Purple Passages: Pound, Eliot, Zukofsky, Olson, Creeley, and the Ends of Patriarchal Poetry</strong></p>
<p>by Rachel Blau DuPlessis ’63</p>
<p>University of Iowa Press, 2012, $39.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Wall Street Women </strong></p>
<p>by Melissa Fisher ’85</p>
<p>Duke University Press, 2012, $22.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Samuel Barber: A Thematic Catalogue of the Complete Works</strong></p>
<p>by Barbara (Brody) Heyman ’55</p>
<p>Oxford University Press, 2012, $99</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>In-Sync Activity Cards: 50 Simple, New Activities to Help Children Develop, Learn, and Grow</strong></p>
<p>by Carol Stock Kranowitz ’67 and Joye Newman</p>
<p>Sensory World, 2012, $29.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Write Outside the Lines: A Creativity Catapult</strong></p>
<p>by Cathy Altman Nocquet ’78 and Pascal Nocquet (illustrator)</p>
<p>Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, 2012, $2.99</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step</strong></p>
<p>by Cecile Pineda ’54</p>
<p>Wings Press, 2012, $15</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The Selected Papers of John Jay, Volume 2, 1780-1782</strong></p>
<p>edited by Elizabeth Nuxoll, Mary A.Y. Gallagher, and Jennifer E. Steenshorne ’88</p>
<p>University of Virginia Press, 2012, $85</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Dinner With Churchill: Policy Making at the Dinner Table</strong></p>
<p>by Cita Stuntz Stelzer ’65</p>
<p>Pegasus, 2012, $26.95</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Field Notes From Grief: The First Year</strong></p>
<p>by Judith Miriam Stitzel ’61</p>
<p>Word Association Publishers, 2012, $18</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor</strong></p>
<p>by Caroline (Davis) Stoessinger ’58</p>
<p>Random House, 2012, $23</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Hindi</strong></p>
<p>by Sonia (Sharma) Taneja ’99</p>
<p>McGraw-Hill, 2012, $16</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times, and the Massachusetts Murder Case That Shook the World</strong></p>
<p>by Susan (Mondshein) Tejada ’67</p>
<p>Northeastern University Press, 2012, $27.95</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="SALON Complete Online Listings Summer 2012 - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-complete-online-listings-summer-2012"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:23:29 +0000dstaab12849 at http://www.barnard.eduSummer 2012 Lettershttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/summer-2012-letters
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h4><img alt="President Barack Obama at Commencement 2012, photo by Asiya Khaki" class="image-inline_small" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_small/public/images/inline/summer2012cover.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="President Barack Obama at Commencement 2012, photo by Asiya Khaki" />Fellowship</h4>
<p>Thank you for the article on the Writing Fellows program at Barnard [in the Spring 2012 issue] (and thank you to Erica Mann Jong ’63 for her generous and steadfast support of it!). It was an honor for me to be part of this invaluable program during my time at Barnard, where, as a fellow, I was given the opportunity to help undergraduate and graduate students from both Barnard and Columbia—economists, biologists, musicians, anthropologists, and architects, to name a few. The work was intellectually rigorous and invigorating, and the rewards have endured up to the present day, where I now depend on the skills I developed as a fellow in my career as a grant writer. In fact, two major arts organizations in Boston have benefitted from the Writing Fellows program. By helping others we learned to question, listen, and then organize and communicate ideas effectively. These skills are essential in order to write compelling and successful proposals for funding.</p>
<p> I regret that Professor Nancy Kline Piore ’64 was not mentioned in the article. She was the director of the writing program during my time. Nancy was an exceptional mentor to me and so many others. I believe I speak for scores of fellows and the students with whom they collaborated when I send her our gratitude.</p>
<p align="right"><em>—Melissa Gallin ’96<br />
Director of Institutional Grants<br />
Massachusetts College of Art and Design</em></p>
<h4>Foodies Follow-Up</h4>
<p>As a credited ghostwriter working on a memoir for Anne Willan, author and creator of the renowned La Varenne Cooking School, I’ve met with many lights of the food world—editors and authors, chefs and vintners, educators and entrepreneurs. Naturally I was thrilled to see the culinary talent Barnard has produced, but there was a notable missing figure—Lisa Ekus ’79. I met Lisa because she is Anne Willan’s agent, but she is also one of the culinary world’s denizens. Lisa has been in the business for over 30 years and has an unrivaled talent for sniffing out and representing the very best chefs, cookbook authors, nutrition authorities, and culinary educators. Much of her story (though not enough) is on her Web site at lisaekus.com.</p>
<p align="right"><em>—Amy Friedman ’74<br />
Los Angeles, Calif.</em></p>
<h4>A Matter of Facts</h4>
<p>I enjoyed the article about Liz Neumark and Katchkie Farm, “Keeping It Local,” Spring 2012. As Kinderhook’s bookseller, I would like to correct a couple of inaccuracies in the article. It is true that Martin Van Buren is our most famous resident. He was born, retired, and died here. You can visit his home, Lindenwald, a National Historic Site. However, neither Aaron Burr nor Washington Irving ever lived in Kinderhook. Burr was Van Buren’s mentor. Gore Vidal suggests in his novel <em>Burr</em> that he was Van Buren’s biological father (artistic license!). The Van Burens ran an inn and people stayed there while traveling to and from Albany.</p>
<p> Washington Irving also spent time in Kinderhook visiting friends. He wrote <em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</em> while here, and modeled characters after local residents. Our school district is named for Ichabod Crane, possibly the only time a bad teacher has been so honored!</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>—Rondi Brower ’83<br />
Blackwood &amp; Brouwer Booksellers Ltd<br />
Kinderhook, NY</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Summer 2012 Letters - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/summer-2012-letters"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:14:57 +0000dstaab12847 at http://www.barnard.eduPresident's Page: Sexual Politicshttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/presidents-page-sexual-politics
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-30" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Barnard College</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-142" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-29" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">community</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">feminism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-88" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">sexism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h4><img alt="Debora Spar, photo by Steve DeCanio" class="image-inline_small" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_small/public/images/inline/deboraspar_00103_bw_lane_4.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Debora Spar, photo by Steve DeCanio" />On a particularly dreary day at the end of February, I received an unexpected phone call. Back and forth with doctors all morning, I was trying to get word about my younger son, who had phoned from college to report that he was ill and on his way to the hospital. When the phone rang, I leaped, positive that it was the emergency room calling with the final diagnosis. Instead, it was my office, informing me that President Obama wanted to give the commencement address at Barnard. What does one say? “Oh wow,” I mumbled. “Sure. I have to get off the phone now.”</h4>
<p>Over the next few days, matters evolved in a blur. My husband and I raced to Vermont to check on our son who, thankfully, was soon okay. I ran through the list of people who had to be contacted confidentially. And then worked with my staff to craft a careful strategy for releasing the good news. In an e-mail sent early on a Saturday morning, we solemnly informed our students that the president had chosen Barnard and would soon be addressing the College’s graduating seniors. The news hit slowly, and then exploded in the blogosphere. “PRESIDENT OBAMA IS GIVING THE BARNARD COMMENCEMENT SPEECH,” one student swiftly reported on Facebook. “No words. Just wow,” commented another. By noon, though, the tone had taken a decidedly different, distinctly horrible turn.</p>
<p>Out of the woodwork, unidentified grumblers began attacking the College and its students. Most of the attacks were general in nature and could reasonably be explained away as jealousy. “POTUS is smart and he made an intelligent move,” groused one. “Better to speak with people without brains than…talk with students who are intellectually superior.” But some were distinctly and disgustingly misogynistic, demeaning the career ambitions and purported sexual practices of Barnard students. “Barnard is full of academically inferior students that…are stereotypically easy to get in bed,” asserted one anonymous post. “Just tell them to have babies and take good care of your family,” stated another. A handful were so obscene that I won’t repeat them here. Other media, however, had no such reservations; within days the campus was embroiled in a nasty and high-profile fight about women and sexuality; women and success; and the complicated boundaries between profanity and free speech.</p>
<p>That same week, Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke, a law student who testified before Congress in favor of expanded insurance coverage of contraception, a slut and a prostitute. In response, President Obama telephoned Fluke personally to express his disappointment and support. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, then vying with Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, offered carefully worded comments, trying to distance themselves from Limbaugh’s language without, necessarily, disagreeing with his views.</p>
<p>Certainly, much of what has driven the sexual politics of 2012 is this year’s electoral politicking—a divisive ideological scramble in which both parties are explicitly fighting for the “women’s vote.” More surprising and of greater long-term importance, is that these fights have also unearthed a deep-seated ambivalence about sex in America, particularly about the sexuality of young unmarried women. Because what was revealed by our announcement, by Limbaugh’s rantings, and by the outbursts surrounding them both, was that women in 2012—roughly 50 years after the dawning of the sexual and feminist revolutions—are still being crucified on the cross of the madonna-whore, damned if they do and if they don’t. To some older feminists, the public eruption of these tensions stands as proof that the battle for women’s rights has not yet been won. To many students, though, it came simply as a shock. “It’s hurtful,” reported one. “Since when should I have to defend myself just for going to the school I go to?” “Why,” asked another more plaintively, “are they being so mean?”</p>
<p>Struggling to answer these questions, I wrote an open letter to our students in late March. Noting, thankfully, that the worst of the attacks had subsided by this point, I mentioned how well-reasoned counterattacks led by students on both sides of Broadway had helped bring the situation under control. But still, I wrote, the misogyny we had experienced was shocking. “Lurking still below the surface of women’s advancement is a sexism that refuses to die, a sexism that rears its frightful head in anonymous online commentary and Congressional testimony on contraception; on hate radio and in electoral contests that still focus on female candidates’ looks rather than their achievements.” I continued, “Fighting back against [sexism] is not a crusade owned solely by women’s colleges. It is a fight we all share, and a goal we cannot afford to neglect.”</p>
<p>Over the past few months, I have been delighted to see our students rising to this fight and embracing its far-flung goals. I have been heartened by their reenergized interest in reproductive rights and by their willingness—across the political spectrum—to engage in political debate and activity. There is a new activism around feminist issues, a new willingness by this generation of students to grapple with problems, from misogyny to work-life balance, that their mothers might once have believed were long ago laid to rest.</p>
<p>Barnard Commencement of 2012 will be remembered, as it should be, as a glorious day, marked by great accomplishment and pride. But I will also remember the disturbing bumps along the way, and the sobering effect that came from seeing how potent sexism remains today, and how cruel.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="President&amp;#039;s Page: Sexual Politics - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/presidents-page-sexual-politics"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:06:08 +0000dstaab12846 at http://www.barnard.eduRecord Reunionhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/record-reunion
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;captions=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feat=flashalbum&amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F117405510697815010286%2Falbumid%2F5766940810761742161%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="192" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="288"></embed></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Alumnae reconnected and socialized with old friends and new, in addition to attending discussions, workshops, lectures, and other events during this year’s reunion weekend. The Alumnae of Color Dinner on Thursday honored the legacy of Dr. Vera Joseph Peterson ’32. At Friday’s President’s Luncheon, Debora Spar outlined future plans to ensure the College’s continued growth. And Saturday night’s festive Gala Dinner featured food and music from alumnae-owned enterprises. Breaking records were the Class of ’62, highlighting their 50th reunion with $515,000 for scholarships, and new attendance records set by the 30th, 20th, 10th, 5th, and one-year reunion classes. To the reunion committee, chaired by Patricia Tinto ’76, good show!</p>
<p><em>—Photographs by Asiya Khaki ’09 and Dorothy Hong</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Record Reunion - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/record-reunion"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:53:38 +0000dstaab12845 at http://www.barnard.eduSalon: A Milestone Birthdayhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-milestone-birthday
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-32" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">writing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2><img alt="Anna Quindlen ’74, photo by Joyce Ravid" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/anna_quindlen.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Anna Quindlen ’74, photo by Joyce Ravid" /></h2>
<h4><em>Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake</em><br />
by Anna Quindlen ’74<br />
Random House, 2012, $26</h4>
<h2>Anticipating a new decade prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anna Quindlen to look both back and forward as she contemplated aging, the launch of three children from the nest, and her new ability to do a headstand.</h2>
<p>“My life is nothing like I imagined, and so much better than I could have expected,” she writes in her latest book, <em>Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake,</em> “and that goes for this moment in my life, when I am beginning to flirt with the idea of old age. I have a feeling I may be cut out to be an old woman.”</p>
<p>Quindlen, chair of Barnard’s board of trustees from 2003 to 2010, explores her simmering disconnect with the Catholic church, explains why she no longer drinks, and considers her daughter at 19, Quindlen’s age when her own mother died. In every chapter, she scrutinizes a facet of her essence, concluding, “The older we get, the better we get at being ourselves.”</p>
<h4>What are your goals for your next decade? </h4>
<p>I want to write some more novels. I want to someday be a good grandmother. I want to spend as much time as I can with my friends and family. I want to stop saying “yes” to things when I really want to say “no.” I want to get up close and personal with whales in the wild.</p>
<h4>Much of what you reveal in <em>Lots of Candles</em> has been fodder for criticism, whether it’s the contents of your two homes or your use of Botox. Have you ever regretted being so candid? </h4>
<p>I’ve been self-censoring since I was 33 years old and began writing about my kids in “Life in the 30s” in <em>The New York Times</em>.<br />
I’ve gotten quite adept at figuring out where to draw the line, for the sake of my comfort level and that of my loved ones.</p>
<p>The response to the Botox comments cracked me up. Here’s something magical: Millions of people now use Botox, but somehow it’s never anyone you actually know. Even those people you know who have foreheads that look as though they’ve just been ironed. Who are we lying for? I don’t know. All I know is that if you’re writing a book about aging, you’re going to mention some of these cosmetic techniques, and that begs the question of whether you’ve gone there yourself. So when the question was begged, I answered. Truthfully.</p>
<p><img alt="Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, photo by Joyce Ravid" class="image-inline_small" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_small/public/images/inline/quindlen_lotscandles.jpg" style="float:right;margin:0 0 1em 1em;" title="Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, photo by Joyce Ravid" /></p>
<h4>Do you think the women’s movement is still viable? What do young women need from feminism? And what do they bring to the table? </h4>
<p>The women’s movement is different than it was when I was a Barnard student. Let’s think back: Classified ads were still divided into male and female, and most of the female jobs were secretarial. There were single-digit quotas at professional schools.</p>
<p>Two years after I graduated, a group of women brought a class-action suit against the <em>Times</em> that resulted in, among other things, my employment there. So great change was needed at the macro level. Today many of the assumptions and goals of the women’s movement have been absorbed into our culture. Every time a working-class dad assumes his daughter is going to go to college and get a good job, that’s the women’s movement at work.</p>
<p>What we need now is a more egalitarian atmosphere at home, because that’s why women sometimes take themselves out of the running for promotion and why many of them are so tired, because they are doing two full-time jobs. It’s time for men to step up. They are already reaping the benefits in terms of not having to be the sole wage earner in the home. They need to shoulder more of the responsibilities.</p>
<p>As for my daughter, my sons, and their generation, I think they bring tolerance, diversity and balance to the table. I’m very optimistic about this generation.</p>
<h4>In a <em>Fresh Air </em>interview with Terry Gross on NPR, you said that six months after your mother died, you hired a housekeeper and “sort of fled” to college. When you look back now, how did that decision shape your life? </h4>
<p>There used to be a rich tradition of Irish-Catholic daughters sacrificing their lives for the greater good. I didn’t want to be part of that tradition. When September came, it was time to go back to school, and I did. I can’t even imagine a parallel life in which I stayed at home, because I get so nauseous. I’m not cut out for self-sacrifice.</p>
<h4>You write that your life has been nothing like you imagined. What did you imagine it would be? </h4>
<p>I didn’t have a game plan, but if I had it would just have been … less. Less in terms of the jobs I thought I might hold and the personal decisions I would be willing to make about my own career. Less in terms of the breadth of my family life. I wouldn’t have had the audacity to think in terms of the columns, the best-seller list, the three fantastic kids. I would have had narrower plans, which is why I suppose I’m glad I didn’t make many.</p>
<p><em>—by June D. Bell</em></p>
<p><em>—Photographs by Joyce Ravid</em></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Salon: A Milestone Birthday - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-milestone-birthday"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:13:31 +0000dstaab12844 at http://www.barnard.eduSalon: A Concrete Barrierhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-concrete-barrier
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-32" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">writing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h4><em>Behind the Beautiful Forevers</em><br />
by Katherine Boo ’88<br />
Random House, 2012, $27</h4>
<h2>Katherine Boo has made a name for herself—and won a Pulitzer Prize—writing about the lives of the poor and neglected in society. In her recent book, <em>Behind the Beautiful Forevers, </em>she portrays the hopes and hardships of the residents of a makeshift slum.</h2>
<h3><img alt="Kate Boo, Behind Beautiful Forevers cover" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/beautiful.forevers.cover_.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Kate Boo, Behind Beautiful Forevers cover" /></h3>
<p> The residents of Annawadi, a half-acre of more than 300 shacks hastily constructed near the Mumbai airport, struggle to make a living by scavenging, sorting, and selling the trash discarded by wealthy Indians. Abdul, the teenager at the narrative’s center, supports his family of 11, who live in a tin-roofed hut. Abdul collects empty whisky bottles, discarded tin foil, and mildewed newspapers, selling them to recyclers and hoping to make enough money to move his family to a 1,200-square-foot plot of land just outside Mumbai. He has been doing this work since he was 6 years old.</p>
<p> Reviewing the book in <em>The New York Times,</em> Janet Maslin wrote of Boo, “She is one of those rare, deep-digging journalists who can make truth surpass fiction, a documentarian with a superb sense of human drama.” NPR said, “Her book reads like a novel, but the characters are real.”</p>
<p> Boo found herself drawn to the plight of these families—many of their children bypass school to work as scavengers—after meeting her husband, Sunil Khilnani, an Indian citizen and a professor of politics at King’s College London. “To me, becoming attached to a country involves pressing uncomfortable questions about justice and opportunity for its least powerful citizens,” she writes.</p>
<p> A blonde woman with a video recorder and notepad was a curiosity for a couple of months of Boo’s research—people trailed after her shouting “Hyatt! Intercontinental!”, thinking that she had lost her way to a luxury hotel nearby. But Annawadi’s residents soon grew used to Boo as she practiced her watch-and-listen reporting style.</p>
<p> Getting the story meant enduring police harassment, studying some 3,000 public records, and risking her already fragile health to spend so much time in a place where tuberculosis is rampant. But, after tripping over an unabridged dictionary in her home and breaking three ribs, Boo decided not to bow to caution and plunged into the streets to penetrate the inner lives of its least fortunate. She spent three and a half years embedded with the people of Annawadi, observing them as they made dinner, fought with their relatives, and stole scrap metal, looking for what she calls “resonant stories” that illuminate some element of the larger society.</p>
<p> The book’s title refers to the concrete wall that conceals Annawadi from view. It is plastered with yellow advertisements for an Italian tile company with the slogan “Beautiful Forever.” The ad fuels the dreams of Abdul’s mother, Zehrunisa: She wanted a small window to vent the cooking smoke that caused the little ones to cough like their father. She wanted ceramic floor tiles like the ones advertised on the wall—tiles that could be cleaned, instead of broken concrete that harbored filth. With these small improvements, she thought her children might stay as healthy as children in Annawadi could be.</p>
<p> Boo got her start at the <em>Washington City Paper</em> and later worked at the <em>Washington Post</em> before becoming a staff writer at <em>The New Yorker, </em>where she wrote about the poor. Some of her most riveting pieces explored the effect of welfare on mothers, the lives of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and the plight of factory workers who faced unemployment. In 2000 she received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series about the mistreatment of the mentally impaired in group homes in the Washington area, reporting that compelled officials to launch reforms, according to the Pulitzer judges. Two years later she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.</p>
<p> The story of India’s poor drew Boo in because, as she noted in an interview with her editor published on the author’s Web site, “in India, as in the U.S., some of the experts most ready to describe how lower-income people are faring weren’t spending much time with those people…. Economic growth had brought unprecedented opportunities for the underprivileged, officially. But I longed for a fuller sense of how those on-the-books opportunities were being experienced on the ground.”</p>
<p> Averting our eyes from the poor is all too easy, she pointed out. “In this age of high walls and security gates, it’s pretty easy not to see and think about those people at all,” Boo said. “Seeing what’s wrong—seeing it clearly—seems to me a crucial part of beginning to set it right.”</p>
<p><em>—by Jennifer Greenstein Altmann</em></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Salon: A Concrete Barrier - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/salon-concrete-barrier"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:55:46 +0000dstaab12843 at http://www.barnard.eduAlumnae Association Reunion 2012 Award Winnershttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/alumnae-association-award-winners-reunion-2012
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2>When Barnard’s extraordinary women come together during Reunion, the Alumnae Association recognizes a few especially accomplished graduates for professional achievements or exceptional volunteer contributions to the College</h2>
<p><img alt="Liz Neumark ’77, photo by Dorothy Hong" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/lizneumark.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Liz Neumark ’77, photo by Dorothy Hong" /></p>
<h3>Woman of Achievement</h3>
<h4>Liz Neumark ’77</h4>
<p>Founder of Great Performances, third largest independent catering firm in the U.S. …Owner and founder of Katchkie Farm, supplier of organic produce for Great Performances kitchens; farm is also the site of the nonprofit Sylvia Center, which promotes nutrition for children and introduces inner-city, at-risk kids to hands-on farming experiences…Leader in the locavore movement, serves on the Governor’s Food Policy Council…Food philanthropist, donating produce to anti-hunger organizations…Recipient of the Good Arts Silver Spoon Award</p>
<p> </p>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3><img alt="Courtney Martin ’02, photo by Dorothy Hong" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/courtmartin.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Courtney Martin ’02, photo by Dorothy Hong" />Young Alumna Award</h3>
<h4>Courtney Martin ’02</h4>
<p>A founding writer and editor emerita of the Web site feministing.com…Author of <em>Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women, </em>and <em>Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists </em>among others…Leader of the Op-Ed Project’s Public Voices Fellowship Program at Princeton University, coaching women academics to engage in public debate…Founder of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy whose mission is to develop personal youth activism and community involvement…Recipient of the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="Alumane Association Award Winners, photo by Dorothy Hong" class="image-inline_large" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_large/public/images/inline/aa.award_.winners.jpg" title="Alumane Association Award Winners, photo by Dorothy Hong" /></p>
<h3>
<style type="text/css">
<!--/*--><![CDATA[/* ><!--*/
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:AkzidenzGroteskPro-Bold;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro Regular";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:MPlantin-Light;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"M L Plantin Light";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
p.P4bodyplantin912light, li.P4bodyplantin912light, div.P4bodyplantin912light
{mso-style-name:"P4_body plantin 9\/12 light";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-unhide:no;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;
mso-hyphenate:none;
tab-stops:9.0pt 1.5in 189.0pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none;
font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:MPlantin-Light;
mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-bidi-font-family:MPlantin-Light;
color:black;
letter-spacing:.1pt;}
span.Boldleadin
{mso-style-name:"Bold lead in";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-ansi-font-size:8.5pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:AkzidenzGroteskPro-Bold;
mso-ascii-font-family:AkzidenzGroteskPro-Bold;
mso-hansi-font-family:AkzidenzGroteskPro-Bold;
mso-bidi-font-family:AkzidenzGroteskPro-Bold;
letter-spacing:0pt;
font-weight:bold;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
/* Page Definitions */
@page
{mso-footnote-numbering-restart:each-section;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:.5in .5in .5in .5in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
/*--><!]]>*/
</style></h3>
<p class="P4bodyplantin912light">Photo (from left): Jamienne S. Studley ’72, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein ’72, Harriet Kaye Inselbuch ’62, Rosalind Marshack Gordon ’62, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ’62, Rhoda Mermelstein Berley ’57, Ronnie Myers Eldridge ’52</p>
<p class="P4bodyplantin912light"> </p>
<h3>Distinguished Alumna</h3>
<h4>Rebecca Newberger Goldstein ’72</h4>
<p>Philosopher, academic, and novelist whose work examines the intersection of science and philosophy in daily lives...Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences…MacArthur “Genius” Fellow…Recognized as Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association…Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for novel Mazel… Winner of Koret Jewish Book Award for biography of Spinoza…Recipient of National Science Foundation Fellowship</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Service to Barnard Award</h3>
<h4>Rosalind Marshack Gordon ’62</h4>
<p>Class vice president and reunion chair for 40th reunion…Member of class committee’s Annual Fund…Class treasurer…Recently completed three-year term on the AABC nominating committee, which she chaired…Vice president and general counsel at Pitney Bowes and former chair of the AABC Bylaws committee</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Distinguished Alumna</h3>
<h4>Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ’62</h4>
<p>Artist, designer, and academic whose work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art…Designated “Design Legend” and recipient of the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts…First tenured woman on the faculty of the Yale School of Art…Co-founder of the Woman’s Building, a public center for female culture, and the Women’s Graphic Center in Los Angeles…Produced award-winning redesigns for magazines and newspapers, like the Los Angeles Times</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Millicent C. McIntosh Award for Feminism</h3>
<h4>Ronnie Myers Eldridge ’52</h4>
<p>Host of <em>Eldridge &amp; Co</em>, a weekly talk show about New York City on CUNY-TV…First NYC City Hall liaison to the lesbian and gay community…First director of the Division for Women in City Hall…Chaired the women’s issues committee as a member of the NY City Council…Former co-chair of the Women and AIDS Project, the nation’s first public hearing on the subject…First executive director of the Ms. Foundation for Women</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Distinguished Alumna</h3>
<h4>Jamienne S. Studley ’72</h4>
<p>Educator and advocate, president of Public Advocates, Inc., in San Francisco, and chair of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality &amp; Integrity, setting standards to assess higher-education quality…First woman president of Skidmore College…Former associate dean of Yale Law School, launching a pioneer loan forgiveness program for graduates pursuing public service careers…Second-generation alumna (mother, Joy Cosor Studley ’46)…Former president, Barnard in Washington Club…Member, search committee that selected President Ellen Futter ’71…Class fund chair</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Service to Barnard</h3>
<h4>Harriet Kaye Inselbuch ’62</h4>
<p>Former chair of the Annual Fund… Fund chair for her 45th reunion and member, alumnae committee for the Centennial Dinner…Class president for 15 years…Reunion chair for 10th reunion…Participant in the President’s Circle Council…For her 50th wedding anniversary, requested contributions to the scholarship fund she and her husband established in 2007</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Service to Barnard</h3>
<h4>Rhoda Mermelstein Berley ’57</h4>
<p>Class fund chair for 15 years…Vice president/reunion chair…Member, Leadership Assembly committee, for past three years…Served on alumnae committees for the Annual Fund, President’s Advisory Council and President’s Circle Initiative…Dedicated correspondent and networker on behalf of her class and the College</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Alumnae Association Reunion 2012 Award Winners - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/alumnae-association-award-winners-reunion-2012"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:33:48 +0000dstaab12842 at http://www.barnard.eduEmbracing the F Wordhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/embracing-f-word
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-38" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">activism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">feminism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-88" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">sexism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2>Five Barnard feminists share their stories from the ever-evolving movement</h2>
<h3>“Feminism and Feminists Today: A Conversation Across the Decades,” brought together alumnae representing nearly 45 years of feminism at this reunion panel. From “I Am Woman” in the ’70s, to the ’80s Sex Wars, to the ’90s backlash and riot grrrls, to “girl power” in the aughts and modern-day SlutWalks, how we define and defend feminism has evolved as have feminists themselves. The panelists shared their thoughts on what feminism meant to them as students, where it stands today, and how to protect its future.</h3>
<p>Courtney Martin ’02, a founder and editor emerita of feministing.com and author of several books, including <em>Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists </em>and <em>Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters,</em> moderated. After introducing the panelists, she asked each woman to elaborate on how her relationship to feminism came alive or changed at Barnard.</p>
<p><img alt="—Illustration by Melinda Beck" class="image-inline_large" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_large/public/images/inline/feminsim.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="—Illustration by Melinda Beck" />New Jersey Democratic Assemblywoman Mila Oden Jasey ’72 arrived in on campus in 1968 with the feminist message already instilled by her mother. She recalled that everything, even academics, took a back seat to another issue. “Feminism is not something I was focused on. We were more focused on the war in Vietnam,” Jasey said. The most feminist event she remembers was the founding in her junior year of the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW), created with a mission of supporting feminism and social justice.</p>
<p>“You couldn’t avoid being a feminist at Barnard when I was here,” said Katherine Franke ’81, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia and director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She remembered a late ’70s campus buzzing about women’s rights, gay rights, sexuality, and feminism. The popular feminist debate was anti-porn vs. pro-sex; the famous <em>Hustler</em> magazine cover image of a woman being put through a meat grinder was everywhere. “It was an exciting [time]. Sexuality was so central to how we understood feminism, how we understood ourselves as women.”</p>
<p>Kathryn Drabinski ’97, a gender and women’s studies lecturer at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, arrived here from Boise, Idaho, looking for a radical time. “Women at Barnard were having fierce arguments and causing trouble,” she said. Despite the constraints of nascent political correctness, activism was hip. Drabinski worked in BCRW with many of her friends, volunteered weekends at an abortion clinic, and was involved in a group called LABIA (Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action). “When I was in it I don’t remember thinking, ‘I’m a feminist.’ I was just a college student,” she said.</p>
<p>Shilpa Guha ’12 said the campus was not the wild political scene she expected. A T-shirt created by the BCRW convinced her to choose Barnard. The message: Dare to Use the F-Word. “It was one of these signs that I got on my campus tour,” recalled Guha. “I was looking for a feminist space.” She eventually found it as a research assistant for BCRW, and in events like Take Back the Night.</p>
<p>In many ways, Guha represents a new breed discussed by the panel: the professional feminist. She already has an impressive CV. While attending Barnard, she was a coordinator for AfterHours Tutoring, a community impact youth group, and interned at the Ms. Foundation, the United Nations in Geneva, and the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. Guha interviewed Anita Hill on campus and has met Oprah Winfrey. With degrees in political science and human rights, she is headed to Washington, D.C. to intern for the American Bar Association.</p>
<p>Franke and Drabinski find that students today are more professionally driven. “Kids today consider college to be a direct path to what you want to be,” says Franke. “My experience was anything but.” After college she was in a band, taught karate, and wrote a novel before law school. Drabinski worked at a video store, nannied, and did temp work. Jasey, who wanted to be a teacher, instead went to nursing school, despite protests from friends and family who thought medical school more appropriate. Even Martin waitressed at the Deluxe Diner near the campus.</p>
<p>Such a rigid focus can make women less likely to take the risks associated with activism. The Facebook generation knows anything that lives on the Internet can come back to haunt them. Social media has generally been a boon for getting people involved, with online petitions, lively discussions in comment threads, and the ability to spread information quickly. Last year’s SlutWalks, which started in Toronto as a protest against a male official telling women they should stop dressing like sluts if they don’t want to be victimized, gained traction on the Web. Women in cities throughout the United States marched in “slutty” clothing. A picture or video at such a rally can spread just as quickly and easily.</p>
<p>“I totally understand the fear of being on Facebook or YouTube,” said Jasey. While she doesn’t think rallies necessarily change things, they do keep young women politically minded. “That feeling of being in a demonstration and feeling that energy around you is very motivating. I’m worried that people don’t realize what we fought so hard to get can so easily be taken away.”</p>
<p>Perhaps young women don’t understand the urgency because they were born with the rights hard-won by their mothers and grandmothers. Or they are simply trying to live up to the standard set by a generation that insisted, “you can do it all,” without explaining how. Maybe the economy is to blame, or Martin suggested, there’s a missing externalized anger that seemed to drive previous generations.</p>
<p>Politics is the realm where women can really affect change, asserted Jasey. Yes, the system is broken, but it’s important for more women to get involved. “Experience gives you more patience and perhaps more courage to anger people and to do things that are not popular. Women more than men, in my experience in the legislature, are willing to take those risks,” she explained.</p>
<p>Does it matter that women are still unwilling to label themselves feminists? Drabinski didn’t think so. At the beginning of her introductory gender and women’s studies courses, she always asks those students who consider themselves feminists to raise their hands. Maybe three out of 70 do. She might double the number of self-identifying feminists by the time the class ends, but it’s still less than 10 percent. The label means less than getting them to think like feminists, she said.</p>
<p>Martin took care to mention that there are a great may young feminists who are speaking out on blogs and participating in conversations about reproductive and other rights. Not to mention the great many women who may not be calling themselves feminists but are still advancing the cause.</p>
<p><em>—by Melissa Phipps</em></p>
<p><em>—Illustration by Melinda Beck</em></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Embracing the F Word - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/embracing-f-word"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:48:49 +0000dstaab12838 at http://www.barnard.eduLiving Well, Aging Wellhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/living-well-aging-well
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-9" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-49" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fitness</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2>What you need to know to burnish your golden years</h2>
<h3>Confronting yet another birthday, seniors often quip, “It’s better than the alternative.” But some golden years do shine brighter than others, with a number of 85-year-olds continuing to vigorously exercise their bodies and minds, while others find themselves largely debilitated. The geriatrician Cathryn Devons ’82 observed that “as people age, they become less alike rather than more alike” in their capabilities, and that while much of our health lies beyond our control, we can in fact, “influence our genetic heritage.”</h3>
<p><img alt="Illustration by Juliette Borda" class="image-inline_large" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_large/public/images/inline/livingwell.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Illustration by Juliette Borda" />Devons spoke about aging and health as part of the reunion panel “Living Well, Aging Well,” sponsored by Project Continuum, which focuses on the issues of older alumnae.</p>
<p>The panel delivered a message of optimism, and featured two main speakers, Devons, a professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and director of geriatrics at Phelps Memorial Hospital, and Dr. Ruth Steinberg ’72, a gynecologist and a former professor at Yale School of Medicine.</p>
<p>Devons noted that she sees many patients over the age of 100, and that if predictions hold true, there will be 600,000 centenarians by 2040 in the United States so “we are doing a pretty good job of keeping people alive longer.” A marathon runner and a triathalete-in-training at 50, she spoke of the benefits of exercise, and the importance of vaccinations in preventative health. She suggested, for example, that most patients over the age of 60 should receive a shot of Zostavax, a vaccination that prevents shingles.</p>
<p>Patients in this age group should also be sure to schedule regular mammograms and colonoscopies in order to detect disease while it is still treatable, said Devons, recommending that patients keep a folder with all medical records, including blood tests and mammogram reports. She also suggested finding a trusted physician who can become familiar with all of one’s health issues to avoid what she calls “polypharmacy,” or taking multiple pills to relieve the side effects of other medications. Devons urged patients of any age to name a legal health-care proxy to make medical decisions in accord with one’s wishes in the event that one is incapacitated.</p>
<p>Steinberg adopted a no-nonsense tone and simple message. “None of us is going to get out of here alive, not meaning this room, but life,” she said, her words sending nervous titters through the crowd. How can we live well for the longest amount of time? She advised: “Avoid the fads. Stay active, and eat well. It’s important to be able to run for the bus, carry packages, and stay strong enough so you can climb the stairs.”</p>
<p>Steinberg, who passed out a series of calcium-rich recipes to the audience, follows a back-to-the-basics approach to nutrition. She said, “My grandmother says if it looks pretty on the plate, it’s good for you.” She paused. “I think food should be a pleasure.” The audience erupted in applause. Steinberg’s first nutrition rule: Eat in season. “If you’re eating asparagus in December, it contains all of the pesticides used in Chile, and tastes wooden,” she said.</p>
<p>Also recommended: “Cook with yogurt. Eat yogurt. Don’t get your calcium from pills. Pills cause constipation. Then, you’ll get magnesium. Again, one pill being given for another pill. There’s something wrong with a country like ours in which health-food stores sell pills and no food.”</p>
<p>Steinberg continued, “Eggs should come from the farmer’s market. Fish should come from the sea. Your farm-raised fish are being fed corn. It’s not healthy.” And vitamin D supplements? Steinberg considers them another fad. She said, “Twenty minutes of sunshine two times a week should be adequate, even during the winter.”</p>
<p>The gynecologist then turned to the audience. “How many of your doctors have asked about your sexual history?” she asked. Two women raised their hands. “We’re write-offs at our age,” said Steinberg, who noted that some women over the age of 50 should still be receiving Pap smears.</p>
<p>She returned to her mantra: “Don’t get bamboozled by this year’s fad.” Shaking her finger at the audience, she smiled broadly, “It will be next year’s, ‘Oh, that is not so good for you.’”</p>
<p>As the program closed, Carolyn Silbermann Koffler ’32, age 99, rose from her seat without the aid of a walker or cane. She announced that she attends Tai Chi classes every day to help her balance. Steinberg affirmed that one’s fitness routine should include balance exercises, because “if you don’t fall, you have much less chance of breaking a bone.”</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s not only genes, exercise, diet, and attention to medical issues, but also a positive attitude that enhances our health. Koffler mentioned that she goes to a senior center several times a week for companionship. “My friends, of course, died,” she said, but not missing a beat, added, “I have new friends.”</p>
<p><em>—by Elicia Brown ’90</em></p>
<p><em>—Illustration by Juliette Borda</em></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Living Well, Aging Well - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/living-well-aging-well"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:31:28 +0000dstaab12837 at http://www.barnard.eduMastering the Interviewhttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/mastering-interview
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-139" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">career</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-140" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">job</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2>How to increase your chances of getting that elusive job offer</h2>
<h3>In this undeniably tough economy, where there’s a painful mismatch between the number of job openings and the applicants qualified to apply for them, simply getting your résumé plucked from the pile and being offered an interview is a great start. Now what do you do to ensure that interview translates into an actual offer? A reunion workshop, “Mastering the Interview,” led by Victoria Passarella, a counselor in the Career Development office, offered ideas and tips to help alumnae.</h3>
<p><img alt="Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/masteringinterviewillo.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer" />Since women interview differently than men, they need to learn how to tell their stories in a compelling, powerful way that highlights what they’ve done and what they can contribute to a potential employer. “Women have a harder time owning their accomplishments,” said Passarella. “You have to feel you’re empowered. No one will hire you unless you feel like you should be there.” Too often, concerns about being perceived as “bragging” interfere with their ability to unabashedly explain what they’ve done on the job or as volunteers.</p>
<p>To pitch yourself successfully, it’s important to control body language, tone of voice, even your level of excitement, during the discussion. An employer wants to know you want the position. “They want to see your drive and motivation, that you’re someone who will be proactive and not need to be micro-managed,” she added.</p>
<p>Passarella urged the attendees—they ranged from recent graduates trying to land that first job to more mature alumnae seeking a career change—to think of the interview as an opportunity to share a story, one designed to highlight their achievements, skills, and strengths. The interview is not about repeating what’s shown on a résumé.</p>
<p>“We don’t speak in bullet points,” she said. “Think of it as a story for a stranger to follow. Edit through that lens. Would a stranger be able to understand this?”</p>
<p>It’s not enough to recapitulate your résumé highlights. You have to sell yourself, no matter how uncomfortable you may be at seeing yourself as a “product,” explained Passarella. She recommended that candidates prepare their arguments about why they want a particular position, as well as how their skills benefit the prospective employer. “Focus on the skills that you’re bringing to the table that another person doesn’t have,” she emphasized. “This is great for career-changers, as an opportunity to show what you specifically offer.”</p>
<p>Interview stress may lead to anxiety or memory lapses that can sabotage your efforts. “Practice out loud,” she said, “by yourself, or with a friend or family member. You can film yourself using your computer camera, and can play it back to check for tone.” As part of the Career Development services offered<br />
to alumnae, she added, “You’re welcome to have a conversation with one of our counselors.”</p>
<p>Preparation is a key element for success. “Make a list of five to six things that you want to bring up in an interview,” she suggested. “Be sure to answer the questions [the interviewer asks]; if you’re unsure about what’s being asked, ask for clarification and take your time [answering]. Rarely is an answer too long.”</p>
<p>No matter how experienced the candidate or how many interviews the applicant has undergone during her career, Passarella pointed out that interviews are different in this age of social media. The expectation is that both the candidate and interviewer will have Googled one another and checkedLinkedIn and Facebook profiles, as well as any other public Internet presence.</p>
<p>Passarella also addressed concerns like appropriate responses to the usual “tell me about your strengths/weaknesses.” Instead of answering with “I’m a perfectionist,” far better to state something along these lines, “my Excel skills aren’t that high so I’ve signed up for a professional development course.” Another strategy might be acknowledging a difficult client or a glitch-ridden project, and how you handled it successfully.</p>
<p>Passarella suggested that candidates ask the interviewer open-ended questions about the most rewarding or most challenging situation he or she has faced. “What’s challenging for someone might be what you love to do,” she said.</p>
<p>Salary shouldn’t come up during the first interview. If you’re asked about your previous or current salary, Passarella offered options like, “it’s negotiable and flexible,” or “when I know more about this position I can provide the information.”</p>
<p>Finally, don’t waste time thinking about what you’ll wear for the interview. Have an appropriate outfit, like a suit, ready to go so that you’re focused on your story, not your appearance.</p>
<p>Several alumnae who attended the workshop found it beneficial. “I’m in transition for a second career,” said Wanda Chin ’77. “This was very helpful.” Having these interview tips was also worthwhile for Elizabeth Ayme ’11, who said, “I’m having some trouble getting a job I’m satisfied is up to my level. I want to increase my chances.”</p>
<p>Sabrina Scott ’87 hoped to translate the many interviews she receives into offers. “I’m told I have an excellent résumé, but I’m not getting the offers. I’m so grateful Barnard has given [this workshop] for alumnae. This was really good for me.”</p>
<p>From Passarella the take-away was, “You’re not going in there thinking you’re not qualified. Own your past experiences. Go confidently.”</p>
<p><em>Visit <a href="http://barnard.edu/cd">barnard.edu/cd</a> for more about Career Development services.</em></p>
<p><em>—</em>by Merri Rosenberg</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Mastering the Interview - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/mastering-interview"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:09:09 +0000dstaab12835 at http://www.barnard.eduLast Image: Summer 2012http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/last-image-summer-2012
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-90" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">photography</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p> </p>
<p><img alt="Møns Klint, Sjælland, Denmark, by Adrienne Penaloza ’12" class="image-inline_large" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_large/public/images/inline/finalimage.sum_.12.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Møns Klint, Sjælland, Denmark, by Adrienne Penaloza ’12" /></p>
<p>Møns Klint, Sjælland, Denmark</p>
<p>—by Adrienne Penaloza ’12</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Last Image: Summer 2012 - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/last-image-summer-2012"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:57:29 +0000dstaab12834 at http://www.barnard.eduDinner and Dancinghttp://www.barnard.edu/headlines/dinner-and-dancing
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-30" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Barnard College</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-7" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">financial aid</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-1" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">philanthropy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;captions=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feat=flashalbum&amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F117405510697815010286%2Falbumid%2F5766610165988294017%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="192" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="288"></embed></p>
<h3>Alumnae and friends of Barnard College gathered at New York’s historic Plaza Hotel for the Annual Gala 2012, which included an auction to benefit financial aid. The event raised over $2.4 million for scholarships.</h3>
<p>Honored at the dinner were this year’s recipients of the Frederick A.P. Barnard Award—Patricia Harrigan Nadosy ’68, botanist, former foreign-exchange options trader, and trustee emerita; and Elizabeth S. Boylan, a former professor of biology, provost, and dean of the faculty emerita. Nadosy accepted her award from Azita Raji ’83, her co-chair on the Athena Center’s Leadership Council. Former Barnard trustee Gedale Horowitz, husband of the late Barbara Silver Horowitz ’55, a dedicated teacher and longtime benefactor of Barnard, and father of Ruth Horowitz ’83, presented the award to Professor Boylan with whom he worked closely at the College.</p>
<p>Barnard’s first annual Gala Nights for young professionals followed the dinner. A committee led by chair Carolyn Bliss Spencer ’09 organized an event that included dancing, dessert, and cocktails, with all proceeds going to financial aid. As President Debora Spar emphasized during her welcome to the evening’s guests, “Scholarships are key to the future of Barnard and the lives of our students—students who will always be grateful for the financial aid they received, and who, I’m sure, will ultimately offer their own support to future generations of deserving Barnard women.”</p>
<p>More than $30 million of scholarship aid was offered to Barnard students in the 2011–12 school year. The proceeds from the Annual Gala directly underwrite this expense, and help Barnard maintain one of its hallmarks—educating exceptional women regardless of their financial means.<br />
</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Dinner and Dancing - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/dinner-and-dancing"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:55:16 +0000dstaab12828 at http://www.barnard.eduLast Word: Are We the Women We Should Be?http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/last-word-are-we-women-we-should-be
<div class="field field-name-field-taxonomytopics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-179" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">alumnae</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">feminism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/topics-17" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">women</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/topics-41" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">society</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><img alt="Last Word Illo by Michael Wertz" class="image-inline_medium" src="https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/inline_medium/public/images/inline/lastwordillo.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0 1em 1em 0;" title="Last Word Illo by Michael Wertz" />When I was 6 years old, I remember defiantly stating that I wanted to grow up to be the first female president of the United States. By the time I graduated from Barnard, I was more inclined toward being the “next” Katie Couric. Today, I’m very happy as a writer, lecturer, and small-business owner. As I recently celebrated my 20th reunion at Barnard, I’m still confident that ambition is in my blood (as is a strong work ethic), but I’m wondering what these changed—dare I say diminished—goals say about me and my generation?</p>
<p> At Barnard, I was consciously and unconsciously schooled in feminism—a natural consequence of studying art history with Jane Rosenthal and modern political movements with Dennis Dalton. I graduated assuming I would work for a noble nonprofit group and then head to law school. This is what I legitimately thought I wanted, but also what I thought was expected of me. Then I got hooked on organizing while orchestrating a cross-country voter registration drive and have spent the decades since making a rare living under the banner of feminism.</p>
<p> My feminist education started when I was young, raised by a mother who was an early subscriber to Ms. Magazine and who, from the time I can remember, convened her monthly consciousness-raising group and still does. As I understood it, decades ago most women were trapped in the limited role that society scripted for them. To be a good woman meant mostly that you had to keep on top of the home and stay out of men’s way. Luckily, by the time my generation came of age, many women had rebelled against this duplicitous “nature” and realized they wanted and were capable of everything that men could do—albeit still too responsible for child rearing.</p>
<p> Years later, it doesn’t seem that women’s lives have kept pace with the change that preceded my coming-of-age moment. As I assess my peer group, most women feel torn between two dominant possibilities: being “good” women as narrowly defined by society or being good feminists as proposed by those engaged with the struggle for women’s equality. Unlike Betty Friedan and earlier feminists, most of us aren’t unemployed and bored in the suburbs, but many of my peers are asking themselves a modern version of what Friedan and her cohort questioned all those years ago: Are we the women we were supposed to become?</p>
<p> For what lies ahead, I think the biggest struggle will be to better define what it means to be successful on women’s own terms. Competing in a mainstream way, only a handful of women can win. As the last presidential election showed, there is still a woman problem. Hillary Clinton was perceived as too masculine; Sarah Palin, too feminine. In other words, being an accomplished woman is still a liability.</p>
<p> Study after study confirms that women want balance, they want to plateau their careers, they want financial reward, but don’t need it excessively so, perhaps that’s because many have a wage-earning male by their side. My friends’ experiences bear this out—most want balance, career, kids, time for friends, and time to do the things they love. I initially saw this balance as a compromise, but I have come to see that it blames women too much. I think women are finally confident enough to define success on their own terms. As it is, success is especially penalizing for women, who are only rewarded for excellence. Men can be “good enough,” but for a woman’s accomplishments to be honored, she has to be another Oprah.</p>
<p> I have learned to stay focused on what I love and what keeps me engaged and enraged—emotionally and intellectually. I never plan too far ahead and am not scared about failing. I’ve always sought partnerships, so the work could be more fun and the failures could be cushioned. And I made deliberate choices, choosing a partner who really does pull his weight with child rearing and household chores. Any regrets I have for steering away from my earlier inclinations are entirely about wishing, at moments, for societal approval, but that’s not a better benchmark of success. Looking ahead to my 25th reunion, I wish only to be me.</p>
<p><em>—by Amy Richards ’92</em></p>
<p><em>—Illustration by Michael Wertz</em></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-share field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Last Word: Are We the Women We Should Be? - Barnard College" addthis:url="http://www.barnard.edu/headlines/last-word-are-we-women-we-should-be"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_tumblr"></a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a>
</div>
</div></div></div>Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:45:06 +0000dstaab12827 at http://www.barnard.edu